SUMMARY We investigated the transcriptional and epigenetic repression of miR-29 by Myc, HDAC3, and EZH2 in mantle cell lymphoma and other Myc-associated lymphomas. We demonstrate that miR-29 is repressed by Myc through a co-repressor complex with HDAC3 and EZH2. Myc contributes to EZH2 upregulation via repression of the EZH2 targeting miR-26a, and EZH2 induces Myc via inhibition of the Myc targeting miR-494 to create positive feedback. Combined inhibition of HDAC3 and EZH2 cooperatively disrupted the Myc-EZH2-miR-29 axis, resulting in restoration of miR-29 expression, down-regulation of miR-29 targeted genes, and lymphoma growth suppression in vitro and in vivo. These findings define a Myc-mediated miRNA repression mechanism, shed light on Myc lymphomagenesis mechanisms and reveals promising therapeutic targets for aggressive B-cell malignancies.

No abstract

The novel Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib has demonstrated high response rates in B-cell lymphomas; however, a growing number of ibrutinib-treated patients relapse with resistance and fulminant progression. Using chemical proteomics and an organotypic cell-based drug screening assay, we determine the functional role of the tumour microenvironment (TME) in ibrutinib activity and acquired ibrutinib resistance. We demonstrate that MCL cells develop ibrutinib resistance through evolutionary processes driven by dynamic feedback between MCL cells and TME, leading to kinome adaptive reprogramming, bypassing the effect of ibrutinib and reciprocal activation of PI3K-AKT-mTOR and integrin-β1 signalling. Combinatorial disruption of B-cell receptor signalling and PI3K-AKT-mTOR axis leads to release of MCL cells from TME, reversal of drug resistance and enhanced anti-MCL activity in MCL patient samples and patient-derived xenograft models. This study unifies TME-mediated de novo and acquired drug resistance mechanisms and provides a novel combination therapeutic strategy against MCL and other B-cell malignancies.

Our recent study demonstrated miR-15a/16-1 downregulation in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Here, we investigated mechanisms of miR-15a/16-1 transcriptional repression and its epigenetic regulation by c-Myc and histone deacetylase (HDAC) in MCL. c-Myc expression was detected in MCL cell lines and in the primary MCL samples, and pri-miR-15a/16-1 mRNAs were significantly upregulated in Mino and Jeko-1 cells with c-Myc knockdown by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Our co-immunoprecipitation analysis showed that c-Myc interacted with HDAC3. Moreover, using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we demonstrated that both c-Myc and HDAC3 co-localized to the two promoters of the miR-15a/16-1 cluster gene, DLEU2, and inhibition of HDAC3 increased histone acetylation of the DLEU2 promoters. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed the dependence of Myc-mediated DLEU2 transcriptional repression on HDAC3. Treatment with the pan-HDAC inhibitor, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid and HDAC3 siRNA resulted in increased miR-15a/16-1 expression. The regulatory mechanism of miR-15a/16-1 was further demonstrated in Burkitt lymphoma and Myc overexpressing cell lines. These findings highlight the role of HDAC3 in Myc-induced miR-15a/16-1 changes and reveal novel mechanisms for c-Myc-driven microRNA suppression and malignant transformation in aggressive B-cell malignancies.